We drove on from Colleville to Arromanches . Here the harbour is dotted with Mulberries which allowed war ships to dock alongside them. Soldiers, artillery and the floating road system which would connect them to the beach were offloaded here. What a tremendous feat in engineering. Reminders of this dark time such as tanks, guns, sections of the floating road and windows painted with Thank You messages to the allies can be seen throughout the village. There is a Museum here but we didn’t visit it as we were heading on to the War Museum in Caen. There are lots of shops, bars and restaurants to enjoy here too. We stayed at the Aire beside the 360 Cinema where we viewed a short film about DDay. It was only about twenty minutes long and cost €7 per adult, Interesting, but not sure it represented good value.The Aire is pretty basic, with toilets, black and grey waste disposal and fresh water available. We didn’t use these facilities so can’t really comment on them. The parking bays are extremely close together but the view from the front row is spectacular if you’re lucky enough to get one of these spaces.
We drove on to Caen to visit the War Museum. This is vast and depicts not only the D Day invasion of Normandy but all the other wars which were happening around the world at the same time. It was difficult to take in how man could be so cruel to his fellow men, women and children and inflict such cruelty on them.
Entry to the Museum is €19.80 per adult with an additional €4.50 for an audio guide. We found the audio guide to be very useful as there really is so much to try to take in. There is a separate parking area for Camping Cars but this is very small and fills up quickly. As it was full when we arrived we found an alternative area to park close by.
This is the end of our D Day tour, looking forward now to relaxing times in pretty seaside towns enjoying the beauty of present day France.
